My 1 and a 1/2 year old only sleeps 9-10 hours MAX a night. We have tried the whole go to bed earlier / go to bed later tricks, but nothing seems to work at getting him to sleep longer. Lately he is fighting sleep until about 8 p.m. and still insists on waking up for the day at 5 or 5:30 a.m. (he has woken up at this early time as far back as we can remember).

It is probably good to note that he is NOT waking up this early because we allow him to get out of bed and play at this time. We refuse to enter his room before 6:45 a.m!

He takes a 2-2.5 hour nap in the middle of the day.

Is it ok that he is getting less sleep in a 24-hour period than the majority of kids his age?

AND are there ANY tricks out there to get the kid to sleep until at least 6?? This is killing me! :)

My 20 month old sleeps 9-10 hours a night. Only on rare nights does he sleep the "recommended" 11 hours. He takes a 1.5-2 hour nap every day. So that adds up to an average of not more than 12 hours/day, about what yours does. Even when he was a newborn, he did not sleep the 18 hours I'd read newborns sleep. I think some kids just need less sleep than others. Don't you know some grownups who seem to do fine on 6 hours a night?

If you need more time at night, you could try and cut back on his nap, but he may be cranky when you wake him up. Otherwise you'll have to gradually keep him up later and later until his schedule is shifted just a bit.

What does he do when he wakes up at 5:30 and you don't come into his room? Does he play quietly or does he start to cry for you? Just curious. Also, does he sleep through the night or wake up for comfort or milk? If he sleeps solid, maybe he's just getting really good sleep. My guy slept through the night last night for the first time in a while, and he woke up earlier than normal.

My 18 month old only sleeps 9 hours at night with a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap each day. We followed the sleep expert books that said to put her to bed earlier so she'll sleep longer but that did not work. After waking up for the day at 430 in the morning for a few months, we finally just moved her bed time to 830-9pm and she sleeps until almost 6. I go to bed by 930 so I can get 8 hours. Kinda a bummer but my older daughter was very similar so I guess it's genetic.

We are going through the same thing, however up until 3 weeks ago, my 14 month old was sleeping 11-12 hours a night. now he sleeps 9-10 and even his naps have gotten shorter. I'm so stressed thinking he is not getting the recommended amount of sleep. we have tried putting him to bed earlier and later, but he still wakes up by 5am. He screamed his head off until we come in the room... then he stops and starts talking. Good luck!

My 16 month old son sleeps only 7-9 hours a night and during the day he has only 2 or three times of 1 hour sleep, I was worried about it cause my friend's child sleeps a lot during the day, I consulted doctors but he says it's enough for him.